Yuko Otomo reads two poems

When I read Yuko Otomo I think of how learners of English as a second language see and hear possibilities in the sights and sounds of their new language that are not known to the native born because learning brings its own perspectives. I was moved, pulled in when I read Yuko Otomo’s two short poems, Moved and Moved 2. Kenny Angel had made a hand-colored archival laser print of them in a limited edition of sixty. When I stopped by his little studio recently, lucky duck that I am, he gave one to me. It follows Yuko’s reading of the poems below.

…

…

…Moved

Leaving the unexplainable things alone,
I walk on the beach.

Burying myself in the sound of waves,
I imagine the warn red world under my skin.

Stepping on the feeling of being moved,
Under my bare feet
I ignore the drama
Of being human.

…Moved 2

My love for flora,
Most of the time exceeds
My love for fauna.

Dedicating soundless love
To soundless love objects.

At the height of summer,

An entire field,
Busy with photosynthesis,
Becomes a stage
For my feeling
Of being moved.…